Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2005

F0 tornado, Rixeyville, Virginia, August 30, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Culpeper County on August 30, 2005, touching down at 7:30 PM EDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
August 30, 2005
Touchdown
7:30 PM EDT (23:30 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Culpeper County
Touchdown point
38.580, -78.030
Lift-off point
38.600, -78.020
Record number
1093

What the Weather Service recorded

The National Weather Service surveyed wind damage in western Culpeper county just west of Eggbornsville. Mainly scattered F0 tree damage, a few topped and blown over small trees, was found on Routes 628 and 646, west of Eggbornsville. The tornado lifted after it crossed the Hazel River and before where it would have crossed Route 729. This tornado has been rated an F0 on the Fujita Scale. Of note, the storm that produced this tornado likely produced the F0 tornado further north in Rappahannock county about the same time.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

22 minutes of warning. NWS LWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:08 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:03 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:08 UTC00:03 UTCTornado WarningLWX

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), 12:00Z

11.5 hours before the tornado, 67 km from the path. August 30, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2005-08-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1066 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 461 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2005-08-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 110 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1066 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
542 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
461 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
123 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
3.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), 00:00Z

0.5 hours after it, 67 km from the path. August 31, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 2005-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1575 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 666 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 2005-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 129 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1575 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1541 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
273 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.5
Supercell composite
12.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:31 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:51 UTCTORNADOE HaywoodMadison, VAEVIDENCE OF A BRIEF F0 TORNADO TOUCHDOWN WAS FOUND JUST EAST OF HAYWOOD NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF ROUTES 609 AND 603. DAMAGE WAS MAINLY TO ABOUT ONE DOZEN TREES BEING TOPPED OR SNAPPED. WIRES WERE REPORTED DOWN. PATH LENG
23:03 UTCTSTM WND DMGMadisonMadison, VATREES DOWN NEAR INTERSECTION OF DUET RD AND HOOVER RD
23:23 UTCTSTM WND DMGSperryvilleRappahannock, VATREES DOWN ALONG SLATE MILLS RD
23:30 UTCTORNADO4 Nnw CordovaCulpeper, VATHE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEYED WIND DAMAGE IN WESTERN CULPEPER COUNTY JUST WEST OF EGGBORNSVILLE. MAINLY SCATTERED F0 TREE DAMAGE...A FEW TOPPED AND BLOWN OVER SMALL TREES...WAS FOUND ON ROUTES 628 AND 646 WEST OF
23:35 UTCTORNADOViewtownRappahannock, VAA SMALL TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN INITIALLY NEAR ROUTES 640 AND 642 IN VIEWPOINT WHERE METAL ROOFING WAS PEELED OFF A FARM OUTBUILDING AND A FEW SMALL TREES WERE KNOCKED DOWN. THE TORNADO CROSSED ROUTE 211 2 MILES WEST OF AMI
23:36 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Se CulpeperCulpeper, VATREES DOWN ALONG HIGHLAND RD
23:36 UTCTSTM WND DMGRevaCulpeper, VATREES DOWN ON REVA RD
23:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nnw CulpeperCulpeper, VATREES DOWN AT OLD STILLHOUSE RD AND EGGBORNVILLE RD. POSSIBLE FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED.
00:08 UTCTORNADO1 Ne OrleanFauquier, VAA TORNADO...F0 ON THE FUJITA SCALE...TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILES NORTHEAST OF ORLEAN...LIFTING APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF ORLEAN. THIS TORNADO DOWNED SEVERAL TREES AND UPROOTED A FEW TREES. THE MAX
00:17 UTCTORNADO2 S AdaFauquier, VAA TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN APPROXIMATELY 1.5 MILES SOUTH OF ADA IN NORTHERN FAUQUIER COUNTY. THE TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR APPROXIMATELY 5 MILES. THE TORNADO WIDTH WAS 300 YARDS AND REACHED A MAXIMUM INTENSITY OF F1 ON T
00:30 UTCTORNADOAdaFauquier, VASTRUCTURAL DAMAGE REPORTED ALONG COBBLER VISTA LN

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 30, 2005

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 303:17 PM EDTF1York, PA0.5100
August 305:45 PM EDTF0Warren, OH2.0300$20,000
August 306:51 PM EDTF0Madison, VA0.550$10,000
August 307:05 PM EDTF1Albemarle, VA1.0100$500,000
August 307:35 PM EDTF0Rappahannock, VA4.075$50,000
August 308:08 PM EDTF0Fauquier, VA0.875$50,000
August 308:17 PM EDTF1Fauquier, VA5.0300$1.5 million
August 309:30 PM EDTF1Macon, NC0.150
August 3012:22 AM EDTF1Adams, PA3.0200
August 3012:38 AM EDTF1Adams, PA7.0300
August 3012:40 AM EDTF1Adams, PA3.050
August 301:19 AM EDTF1Cumberland, PA2.0100

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.